Fall 2022

As we collectively surpass a year and a half together in the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of us suffer from online meeting fatigue and sore monitor eyes. The ASP overcame these challenges this summer and hosted a virtual conference series on July 16, 23, and 30 entitled “Vanguards of Natural Product Research 2021,” leveraging the Virtual Chair platform as a venue to increase engagement and personal connection. The program was very successful in building and maintaining meaningful connections and providing important opportunities to younger members of our society at a crucial moment in their careers.

I am profoundly moved and honored to have this opportunity to serve the ASP as president. The ASP has been an anchor like no other for me since shortly after I arrived in the United States from Zimbabwe, twenty-one years ago now. The stated mission of the American Society of Pharmacognosy is “to promote and develop the science of pharmacognosy and all aspects of those sciences related to natural products.”

At some point in graduate school, most people experience imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is when you doubt your skills and talents, minimize your own accomplishments, and have an internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud.” For minorities, there is additional pressure to achieve and break stereotypes because we are the first to enter fields we were locked out of for centuries. As a result, we have to work harder than our counterparts and be exceptional to be taken seriously.

This summer, the ASP will host a virtual symposium series July 16, 23, and 30 entitled “Vanguards of Natural Product Research 2021.” These events will highlight the work and creativity of students and postdocs in the natural products community (aspmeetings. pharmacognosy.us/), and the abstract deadline is June 1.